What did you do in school today?

[Angel]

Not cool.... especially from someone who claims native ancestry.

Do you know how hard First Nations people laugh when someone says "I'm part Cherokee (or any other linguistic group)?

Yeah...no...you're not....I have about 1/99 Native blood...but I wouldn't get laughed at like c-dog would...because I respect and understand the traditions.

[Angel]

In a way that makes a lot of sense. Maybe the reason that we adults can't remember beign babies is so we forget all that we knew when we were babies. Spirit world & ancestors being among them.

And all this talk of smudging, ceremonies, and feasts makes me realize how much I miss sweat lodges. It's been way too long

That's exactly why. We actually plan out our life with the creator before he sends our spark here. We forget all of it when we are born, but it takes awhile for faces to leave our memory, because we are hard-wired to see faces.

Sitting and listening to the Elder's stories is quite amazing when you consider how many thousands of years these stories have been handed down...and they NEVER change.

I'm taking two traditional classes. One of them is human development from traditional teachings. We stole thousands of children from their homes...when we should have been learning how to raise kids from them...there would be a lot more well-adjusted humans in this world.

[Nitro Express]

I'm chinese by adoption.

[FORD]

Do you know how hard First Nations people laugh when someone says "I'm part Cherokee (or any other linguistic group)?

Yeah...no...you're not....I have about 1/99 Native blood...but I wouldn't get laughed at like c-dog would...because I respect and understand the traditions.

Usually the people I've met at various pow wows and ceremonies make some joke like "Yeah, you Cherokees got around, didn't ya?"

I've got a little Cherokee blood on both sides of my family tree, but I don't go around marking "Native American" on government paperwork or anything like that. My attraction to Native spirituality came from my love of nature, and feeling more of a spiritual connection to the mountains and the ocean than some church building where people sing boring songs and talk right wing politics. Would have felt the same way about it without a drop of Indian blood in my veins.

And I do love this t-shirt.... so much that I bought it three times.......



Have it in Black, White, and Red. Wanted to find it in yellow so I would have one for each color of the Medicine Wheel, but so far, I haven't seen it.

[FORD]

I'm chinese by adoption.

I could claim Chinese ancestry too, One of my grandfathers was born in Hong Kong.

Yeah, his parents were white American missionaries, but he was technically Chinese.

[Nitro Express]

My father in law has quite a bit of cherokee blood. He even has a war club that was passed down generation to generation. I'm part icelandic so I'm basically a viking. Screw that 1492 crap. Lief Erikson landed on American soil long before Columbus ever did.

[Angel]

I love that one. Up here, we have "Got land? Thank an Indian"....and some of us like to change the lyrics of "Oh Canada" to "my home ON Native land".

I've always been drawn to our Native peoples. Even tried to run away to a reserve in Washington once, lol.

Last week, an Elder asked me why I'm taking Traditional teachings, and when I told him why, he said "you have first nation blood", and that what drew me was "blood memory"...we carry our ancestors memories in our blood. My family's been here since the 1600's so great chance there's some in there.

This same Elder will be giving me my spiritual (Indian) name at a sweat next month. Should be interesting....

[Nitro Express]

I could claim Chinese ancestry too, One of my grandfathers was born in Hong Kong.

Yeah, his parents were white American missionaries, but he was technically Chinese.

My parents best friends were Chinese. Our families were close and still are. It was like having a chinese aunt and uncle.

[Angel]

My family is like the UN, lol. I have a Jamaican uncle, a mulatto 2nd cousin, and her son is part Native. Their family portrait is hilarious.

[Nitro Express]

My uncle had a farm in Utah that every time he would plow a field. Spear heads, scrapers, and arrow heads would turn up. Also we found lots of grinding stones. I amassed a pretty good sized arrow head collection over the years. A Shoshone who was good at napping out arrow heads showed me how to do it. I'm not as good as him and you need really glassy obsidian. There is a whole cliff of it in Yellowstone Park and it's where the indians use to get the good obsidian and trade it with other tribes.

When we were little my mom would have an Shoshone lady make us moccasins. She could do some fabulous bead work. I loved getting a new pair of moccasins because the leather smelled like a smoke house.

[Nitro Express]

When my chinese family calls on the phone my wife can't understand them. LOL! I don't know why, it's good queen's english with a Hong Kong accent. Maybe I grew up with it. She can barely understand.

[cadaverdog]

Not cool.... especially from someone who claims native ancestry.

I'm not dispariging native Americans. I'm talking shit about crack addicts. They worship the pipe too but in a different way.

[Von Halen]

My family is like the UN, lol. I have a Jamaican uncle, a mulatto 2nd cousin, and her son is part Native. Their family portrait is hilarious.

I think most of us are mutts!

[ashstralia]

I'd tend to agree.

So what if my great great grand relative got sent here for pilfering a silk neckerchief.

[ashstralia]

kangaroo humping.

You had me at 'kan'.